to one of the local security guys, they’ve been at the last few political events. They don’t seem to care if the speaker is republican or democrat. The Republicans are their enemy, and the democrats aren’t doing enough. They pretty much distrust and dislike everyone. He said they’re part of a local social media group who puts out blasts about when and where to show up.”
“I’ve heard of Mobilize Equality. They do good work,” I said. What I didn’t add was that they were one of the organizations I would love to work for. They were organized, educated about the issues, and were working for real change.
“Yeah, it’s the others that are a wild card. But the problem is when you get a group like the second one, it can breed a negative energy that spreads.”
“Let’s hope that isn’t the case today.”
“We tried the side entrance, and they’re there as well. I brought the Senator in the front. I figured that the most radical ones would be the ones staking out the other entrances. Plus, they have cameras on the front, so hopefully, they’ll be on better behavior.”
“That sounds like a good plan to me as well. We’ll go through the front, too.”
He hung up the phone and turned back to me. “You stay right in front of me and do what I say. If I say stop, you stop. If I say duck, you duck. Don’t engage in any way with any of the protesters. Just keep moving. Once we get inside, we’ll find you a quiet room so you can prepare to go on stage.”
“Okay,” I said. We got out of the car and started towards the entrance. I felt like I was walking the gauntlet. There were protesters on each side of the walkway, and they crowded in against us as we made our way to the door. They were shouting and waving their signs, but that wasn’t what got to me. What got to me was a group of men and women who all wore t-shirts that said LGBT youth are 5X more likely to attempt suicide, with a photograph of a child. Under the picture, it said my child was one. Some had dates underneath, indicating the date of death, and some didn’t. I could only hope those that didn’t were still alive. I kept my head down, looking at the shirts out of the side of my eye as we went by.
Roman was behind me pushing me through the line at a good pace, but that was when it happened. A woman stepped in front of me. And as Roman moved to get between us, I looked up to her face. There was so much pain and determination and anger there. I glanced back down at her shirt. Under the photo, it said, My child was one, with a date of birth and date of death only fourteen short years later. I laid my hand on Roman’s arm to stop him, and to my surprise, he did. I knew at that moment that I wasn’t going up on that stage. Not today. Not ever again. I was done. “What is your name?” I asked.
“Gayle,” she said. “Gayle Moore.”
I reached for her, pulling her into a hug and said, “I’m so sorry, Gayle. So so very sorry.” Then I turned to Roman and said, “Get me out of here.”
Chapter 24
Roman
I wasn’t sure at first what had happened. Trey turned to me and the look in his eyes, damn it was heartbreaking, but when he said get me out of here, everything in me went into action. I had no idea what the woman had said to him, if there was a threat, or if he had just reached his breaking point.
I pressed the talk button on my earpiece. “Fredrick.”
“Go ahead.”
“Trey and I are headed back home. Please let the Cobens know. He doesn’t want them to worry.” He hadn’t said that, but seriously whatever it was, we didn’t need them complicating it.
“Okay, I know the Senator will want an explanation, but things are crazy here right now. I’ll call you later.”
I looked around and wondered if it was even worse inside. I couldn’t imagine, but at least I wouldn’t have to find out. I cut a path back the way we came, which took some time since we were moving against the flow of traffic, but eventually, I got Trey back to the SUV. Once I cleared the car, I got him situated inside and